Wednesday, October 20, 2010

I am always up for supporting newcoming little brands, especially if they're local.So I was recently intrigued by a new product I spotted in a few Irish beauty features so I thought to give it a go.Magazines all directed to the brand's website for info and stockists. Only to find for stockists you had to either e-mail or phone.The product is available to buy on their website... on which you can ONLY pay through Paypal(which I found slightly amateurish, but anyway...). I tried to buy it, but my card was rejected...nice!Fair enough, I did e-mail them then.My email, polite as ever requested a simple list of salons/stockists where to find the product, signed "Laura from Dublin". One would think that was enough detail, right? No.Three days later(again, very unprofessional) they emailed back saying they needed to know what area I lived in("Laura from Dublin" wasn't probably clue enough for them), to which I replied Dublin City Centre.Well guess what....it was still not enough precise for them, another three days later they answered asking which area exactly(for those of you who are not familiar with Dublin, the city is divided in numbered districts for easier area identification in numbers from 1 to 20-something I believe). At this point I was quite annoied.Isn't city centre enough info? I mean.....you're a really new brand, I find it hard to believe you supply so many chemists thit's not like NYC or London, plus whatd'ya know, I could live in one area, work in another, shop in another still or simply be prepaired to travel to the ther side of the city to try your product. I might have, but definitely not after those e-mails.So after replying giving them a choice of 3 districts(just for the craic, to see what they'll say) I took to the Internet and after a lot of digging I managed to find a salon supplies website selling the product at €7 less than the brand's website(VAT and postage included). And guess what, my card wasn't rejected!I placed my order on monday, I got it today.....and three days later I'm still waiting for a stockists list for those 3 areas.

I don't personally use a huge amount of hair products, I don't need to. But one basic essential I ALWAYS use is a heat protector. Plus these products are ace at controlling frizz and living in Ireland and in a house mostly with carpeted floorss, my hair would be an unruly big voluminous bush without any kind of tamer.Only since moving I have been using it because for some unknown to me reason, they aren't sold in Italy. I recently purchased the above products to send home to my hairdresser as she was interested in trying them.I always used VO5 up until now but I thought just out of interest I'd try the TRESemme once and here's my verdict.

When spraied on the hair they pretty much both have the same scent, although VO5 is slightly stronger. Whilst drying my hair it was very hard to constantly run my fingers through it with TRESemme, and a lot of hair came out because of the stroking, where as it was completely fine with VO5.Also with the hair drier blowing on the hair, I could smell Vo5 a lot more.Immediately after I was done and even 1 day after, TRESemme did calm frizziness and statics a lot more than Vo5 and hair is softer. However I can smell Vo5 on my hair even after 2 or 3 days of washing it where as I couldn't smell TRESemme after 3 hours; it's a plus for me as I don't really use much perfume and I like when my hair gives out a nice scent, maybe someone that like to wear a lot of perfume would prefer TRESemme as you can't smell it at all.

So whilst drying TRESemme was a nightmare to work for me, post drying softness is better with TRESemme but Vo5 nice smell stuck to my hair a lot longer.

If you follow me on Twitter or if you read my prev post, you will know I was in Italy for a couple of weeks between the end of September and the beginning of October.Before people start thinking I'm well loaded for being able to afford a 2 week holiday in Italy, let me just reassure you: I am the furthest away from loaded you could imagine.I was only able to afford it because I just went back home, yes I am Italian. I staied at my family's little beach cabin, I only went out for meals with my parents a couple of times so they were paying, and the cabin is in a little village where nothing happens from early september to late may.I won't get into great detail as to how much fun I did or did not have, it would take too long to explain, and you probably don't even care. I'll just say I was SO glad to see my friends again and treat myself to a few little goodies.Since moving to Ireland I had not treated myself to one new clothing item or shoes, just stuck to my beauty essentials with a few exceptions here and there, mainly because I am surviving on my own savings and I am still unemploied despite the MAJOR efforts (big fat THUMBS DOWN to that). Plus to be totally honest, I'm not a big fan of shopping here because I don't exactly fancy walking around with something half a million girls here and in the U.K. are wearing, and because what to me is good quality clothes, are VERY expensiive here compared to Italy and I will demonstrate this during my post.

I tweeted yesterday asking if anyone wanted to see what I'd got while in Italy and a few of you said they did so here goes.

Extra Volume Lipgloss by KIKO Make Up Milano in the colour 02 Navajo White. I didn;t buy for the super extra volumising and moisturising claims but just simply because I really liked the colour. I don't often buy lip glosses and I basically never buy lipsticks because my lips, like my skin, are very sensitive and I never know in advance which are going to make them explode, look like an inflated doll or like tarmac under Italian sun in mid August at mid day; also because despite the amount of liquids I drink and lip balms I use, my lips get almost instantly dehydrated when I try lip glosses or lipsticks.KIKO shop assistants and their website can tell me all they like that this lipgloss is going to make me have botoxed extra super hyper hydrated lips, I just simply never believe any of that malarkey.So the colour is REALLY nice, it makes my lips really soft for about one hour, when my lips start to go really dry. It's not sticky when I talk but it most definitely fails the hair caught on lips test. Also it's got a mild toffee scent to it, not too overpowering.

Smart Eye Pencil by KIKO Make Up Milano in the colour 103 Pearly Wisteria. (I wish the photo could do it justice). Not much to say really, it's just an eye pencil, very blendable and glides on very easily without having to warm the tip first. the colour nor the subtle sheen are too over powering. Plus it makes my eyes pop brilliantly.

The flash actually washes out the colour a bit. This is a really nice long cardigan for winter, if my bum wasn't so big and didn't peak under it, I would actually wear it as a dress with just leggings. I will be wearing this with a plain top underneath and jeggings or pencil jeans. I must get a cheap bel in Penneys(Primark) to break up the big block of colour and highlight my waist even more.Going around shops here I haven't found something kind of similar for the same quality especially in the finishing, for any less than €40, when I paid €19 for it, and I haven't seen it in a variety of colours, just the season's camel, black or dark blue, unlike where I got it, where it was available in dark purple, emerald green, red and white as well.

I personally really like shirts but this will be the third I own at the moment(long and short sleeved); the problem is it's always very hard for me to find a shirt that will fit my athletic shoulders/arms and my chest, and when I do of course the rest of the shirt is too long and baggy instead of nicely tailored. So I didn't let the chance pass by when I spotted this utterly gorgeous dark blue one for only €16 ! I do admit it's slightly tight around the chest and upper back but nothing too bad, and for that price I wasn;t gonna let it go!It looks kind of creased but it's not, it's very lightly gathered all down the front, a different touch to what would have been just a boring dark blue smart shirt.I challenge you to find something like this of this great quality and finishing for €16 in Dublin...

This I was particularly happy about because I have been looking or something similar for a couple of years both here and in Italy but every time it would be too filmsy or not fitted or I wouldn't be able to button it up or move my arms. This one is in kind of a denim material, it's "thick", I like the fake cute little pockets(not sure you can work them out in the photo) and I really like the stretchy panel on the back. And it was only €16 !

These I think were the bargain of the holiday: only €20 ! Because of my wanky knees result of years of various sports/physical activities, I wouldn't normally go for such high heels but when I tried them on I was surprised to feel how VERY comfortable they are thanks to the wedge on the bottom! The little buttons on the side are roses, and they fit thanks to a zip on the innner side.

That's it really, I got a few more beauty goodies but they're from minor Italian brands anyway.

I would love to know what you guys think of my little buys, and be honest :-)

Friday, October 8, 2010

I have to be honest people... this post was ready to go on-line about 2 and a half weeks ago.
For those who were wondering where I've been, I went home to Italy for a couple of weeks. I did have a few posts typed up and ready to be posted(this review included) so you guys would have something to read whilst I was gone, but that evening Blogger decided to throw a massive strop and when I went to publish them....they all "magically" disappeared! I was leaving the morning after so I didn't have the time to re-write them all again.

Before I start with the review I must admit this is a sponsored post(which I am uber excited about!!!). You guys know how uber sensitive my skin is so I was really glad to be given the chance to test some of their products fr free.First Light Cosmetics are a mineral make up brand completely free of chemicals and preservatives (my skin says thank you!) with a wide range of choice of colours.
I found this really interesting: "Test the products at home and save time and money. We offer free postage on sample sized products then deduct the price of up to 2 samples against the purchase of a full size jar. Write to us at info@firstlightcosmetics.com once you have bought the full size product and we will refund the cost of the samples."

As you can see the products come in a cute little pouch which the web site states is "produced by the Mabinti Center in Tanzania. For more information on the Mabinti Center please click here. "
I got to try the foundation and 2 eye shadows.

I picked the lightest shade of foundation: "First Frost: A light, pale shade for delicate porcelain skin tones".
As usual with foundations I was a bit skeptic colour wise, but the shade absolutely delivered!
I did try this both dry and wet.
Dry it's very very light, buildable coverage and you don't feel caky at all. I usually prefer mineral foundations in the wet application but for some reason, with this one I prefer it dry.
When applied wet, just one layer gives you a medium coverage.
Goes without saying a perfectly hydrated skin is of utter importance with mineral foundations, or you'll end up looking horribly ashy and patchy.
A jar of 10g is £12.99 and a little 2g is £1.50

Here are the 2 eye shadows.
I did try to swatch them but I found that Cobalt Sea is such an amazing colour that it keeps changing depending on the lighting. It's VERY shimmery, I would say almost glittery, but despite that it has close to no fall out at all when applied dry. When applied wet it has a little bit of fall out but no big deal, and it's super super intense!
Sunkissed disappointed me a bit, it looks a lot darker on the website, hence why I picked it, but as you can see it's a very light reddish brown which I think really doesn't go with my skin nor eye colour. I didn't notice much of a difference in colour intensity when applied wet or dry.
They both are £5.99

You will be able to see the products in future FOTD's. If anyone is interested I can do a video review.
Ciao for now,